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GeCube Radeon HD 3870 512MB GDDR4 (O.C. Edition)

By Vincent Chang - 10 Jan 2008

Overclocking

Overclocking

GeCube did not merely slap on the O.C Edition onto any ordinary Radeon HD 3870 card, relying on its custom cooler to improve overclocking allowance. Instead, the vendor has a special, tweaked BIOS that purportedly makes a difference when it comes to overclocking. Obviously we had to test it for ourselves.

A newer, GeCube exclusive BIOS gives this O.C Edition the extra boost when it comes to overclocking allowance.

The GeCube card comes flashed with this new BIOS and as you can see from our screenshot above, the new version is 010.073 as compared to the 010.071 we find on a standard Radeon HD 3870. Apparently, this is a BIOS exclusive only to this particular O.C Edition. Trying the same trick on other Radeon HD 3870 cards will fail unless you can fool the BIOS into thinking that the hardware (Device ID string) corresponds to this X-Turbo III powered GeCube card. It won't even work on other GeCube Radeon HD 3870 cards besides this O.C Edition. However, some users have managed to get around this with a modified BIOS and you should be able to find it circulating online.

So does this new BIOS live up to the hype we have been hearing? Well, compared to the MSI card that we tested before, the GeCube saw a significant jump in overclocking allowance using the newer BIOS. Core clock went up to 906MHz while the memory was stable at 2520MHz DDR. This meant that this GeCube can overtake a normal GeForce 8800 GT 512MB in 3DMark06 at least. It's certainly good news for enthusiasts, though we have to add the usual warnings about heat and risks of damaging your card. Interestingly though, GeCube guarantees that the card will safely operate at OverDrive speeds of 885/2400MHz DDR. So that's something to think about.

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